Brain Drain is a

fictional character In fiction, a character (or speaker, in poetry) is a person or other being in a narrative (such as a novel, play, radio or television series, music, film, or video game). The character may be entirely fictional or based on a real-life perso ...

appearing in

American comic book An American comic book is a thin periodical originating in the United States, on average 32 pages, containing comics. While the form originated in 1933, American comic books first gained popularity after the 1938 publication of ''Action Comics'' ...

s published by

Marvel Comics Marvel Comics is an American comic book publisher and the flagship property of Marvel Entertainment, a divsion of The Walt Disney Company since September 1, 2009. Evolving from Timely Comics in 1939, ''Magazine Management/Atlas Comics'' in ...

Publication history

Brain Drain first appears in ''

The Invaders ''The Invaders'' is an American science-fiction television series created by Larry Cohen that aired on ABC for two seasons, from 1967 to 1968. Roy Thinnes stars as David Vincent, who after stumbling across evidence of an in-progress invas ...

'' #2 (Oct. 1975) and was created by writer

Roy Thomas Roy William Thomas Jr."Roy Thomas Checklist" ''Alter Ego'' vol. 3, #50 (July 2005) p. 16 (born November 22, 1940) is an American comic book writer and editor, who was Stan Lee's first successor as editor-in-chief of Marvel Comics. He is possibly ...

and artist

Frank Robbins Franklin Robbins (September 9, 1917 – November 28, 1994) was an American comic book and comic strip artist and writer, as well as a prominent painter whose work appeared in museums including the Whitney Museum of American Art, where one of his p ...

Fictional character biography

Werner Schmidt first appears as Brain Drain in the title ''

Invaders ''InVader'' is the fourth album by Finnish glam metal band Reckless Love, released on 4 March 2016 through Spinefarm Records. Track listing All songs written by Olli Herman, Pepe Reckless, and Ikka Wirtanen, unless otherwise noted. Reception Wr ...

'', leading a group of beings claiming to be Teutonic gods against

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

superhero team the Invaders. Brain Drain recounts in flashback his origin to

Captain America Captain America is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by cartoonists Joe Simon and Jack Kirby, the character First appearance, first appeared in ''#Golden Age, Captain America Comics'' #1 (cover ...

, explaining how a falling meteorite all but killed him. The "meteorite" was in fact a spaceship, with the four alien inhabitants saving Schmidt's brain and eyes and placing them in a robot body. With his brain waves heightened during the process, Schmidt dubs himself "Brain Drain" and taking mental control of the aliens - which he calls "Star Gods" - renames them after old German gods:

Donar Thor (; from non, Þórr ) is a prominent god in Germanic paganism. In Norse mythology, he is a hammer-wielding god associated with lightning, thunder, storms, sacred groves and trees, strength, the protection of humankind, hallowing, and ...

, Log, Froh, and

Brunnhilde Brunhild, also known as Brunhilda or Brynhild ( non, Brynhildr , gmh, Brünhilt, german: Brünhild , label= Modern German or ), is a female character from Germanic heroic legend. She may have her origins in the Visigothic princess Brunhilda ...

. When Brunnhilde is released, she taunts Brain Drain into committing suicide in a vat of chemicals, which destroy the characters. The Invaders escape as the aliens then destroy themselves and the installation. The character is mentioned by fellow

Nazi Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in ...

villain

Red Skull The Red Skull is an alias used by several supervillains appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics and its predecessor Timely Comics. The first version, George Maxon, appeared in ''Captain America Comics'' #1 and #4. The main ...

in the title ''

Marvel Premiere ''Marvel Premiere'' is an American comic book anthology series that was published by Marvel Comics. In concept it was a tryout book, intended to determine if a character or concept could attract enough readers to justify launching their own serie ...

'', and reappears in a two-part story in the title '' Marvel Two-In-One'', and together with Nazi allies

Master Man Master Man, in comics, may refer to: * Master Man (Fawcett Comics), Fawcett Comics superhero * Master Man (Marvel Comics) Master Man is the name of three fictional characters that appear in comic books published by Marvel Comics. Publication his ...

, U-Man and ''Skyshark'' plans to sabotage

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

with a new super weapon. The plan, however, is foiled by time-travelling

Fantastic Four The Fantastic Four is a superhero team appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The team debuted in ''The Fantastic Four'' #1 (cover dated Nov. 1961), helping usher in a new level of realism in the medium. It was the first s ...

member the

Thing Thing or The Thing may refer to: Philosophy * An object * Broadly, an entity * Thing-in-itself (or ''noumenon''), the reality that underlies perceptions, a term coined by Immanuel Kant * Thing theory, a branch of critical theory that focuse ...

and the Liberty Legion. The title ''

Alpha Flight Alpha Flight is a fictional team of Canadian superheroes appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The characters premiered in ''The Uncanny X-Men'' #120 (April 1979), and were created to serve as part of the X-Men member W ...

'' reveals that Brain Drain's brain casing is apparently lost in the snow below a mountain for decades, and is rescued after taking mental control of a nearby hiker. The character allies himself with the

Master Master or masters may refer to: Ranks or titles * Ascended master, a term used in the Theosophical religious tradition to refer to spiritually enlightened beings who in past incarnations were ordinary humans *Grandmaster (chess), National Master ...

, a perennial foe of the superhero team Alpha Flight. Joining the Master's team Omega Flight in a new robot body, Brain Drain and other villains battle the heroes on several occasions, before finally being defeated. Brain Drain is mentioned in the one shot ''Miss America Comics 70th Anniversary Special'', as heroine

Miss America Miss America is an annual competition that is open to women from the United States between the ages of 17 and 25. Originating in 1921 as a "bathing beauty revue", the contest is now judged on competitors' talent performances and interviews. As ...

believes the character to be the mastermind behind a Nazi plan. Brain Drain returns as an antagonist in ''

The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl ''The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl'' was an American comic book series published by Marvel Comics featuring Squirrel Girl. The solo series debuted in January 2015 and ran for 8 issues, and was relaunched in October 2015 as part of Marvel's All-New, A ...

'' and is quickly defeated due to his extremely outdated technology (such as vacuum tubes) and crucial design flaws (specifically exposed wires). Upon realizing that Brain Drain did not have a choice about his evil actions due to his programming,

Squirrel Girl Squirrel Girl (Doreen Allene Green) is a superheroine appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by writer Will Murray and writer/artist Steve Ditko, she first appeared in '' Marvel Super-Heroes'' vol. 2 #8, a.k.a. ''M ...

and her roommate Nancy Whitehead updated his technology to modern standards. Upon awakening, he reveals that he intended to reform and was specifically seeking Squirrel Girl's help, after which he decides to audit computer science courses at

Empire State University The comic book stories published by Marvel Comics since the 1940s have featured several noteworthy concepts besides its fictional characters, such as unique places and artifacts. There follows a list of those features. Places Certain places fe ...

, under the human name "Brian Drayne".''

'' vol. 2 #1 (Dec. 2015) Afterwards, he takes the recurring role as one of Squirrel Girl's superhero friends.

Powers and abilities

Werner Schmidt was a brilliant scientist. After his brain was transplanted into a robot body by aliens, Brain Drain gained the power of mind control.

References

External links

*
AlphaFlight.Net Alphanex Entry on - Brain Drain
{{Invaders Characters created by Frank Robbins Characters created by Roy Thomas Comics characters introduced in 1975 Marvel Comics Nazis Marvel Comics superheroes Marvel Comics supervillains